The Esquire Guy on Handling Tears at Work
The workplace can be an emotional place.
First, the crying isn't happening because of that thing you just said. The crying is happening because the crier was ready to cry, and that thing you just said--or that thing Kevin in accounting just said or the fact that the Twix got stuck at the end of the vending-machine coil--triggered it.
You'll never know what really caused the crying. Even the crier will never fully know. Anyway, it's irrelevant. You're not going to fix anything here--not as the crying is happening. But you are going to prove something. You're going to prove that you can be empathetic and professional at the same time, which is a combination of virtues one should display at all times, not just when things are emotionally intense.
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